Golovkin Poised to Become Elected World Boxing Leader, Will Guide Sport Towards Olympic Games in LA 2028
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin will be chosen as the head of World Boxing and guide boxing as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and achieved the highest number of title defenses in the history of the middleweight division, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for Sunday’s election. As a result, he will assume leadership of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.
This position was previously occupied by the International Boxing Association, but it was expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his platform, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose first term lasts through 2027, vowed to restore trust in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic lineup, beginning at the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “As a professional, I won numerous world titles, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am committed to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to guarantee fair judging, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee organized the boxing tournaments itself at the 2021 Tokyo Games and the Paris 2024 Games. Nonetheless, after last year’s Olympics were overshadowed by rows over sex eligibility, it declared a need for a new partner by the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it granted recognition to the new boxing federation, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For that event, the organization implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of boxers of both sexes, a step which the IOC is also considering for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
